cramer

The myth is real.

mySociety, creators of very clever civic and community websites and internet tools, have made some very interesting travel time maps for London. Even better is the home price and time travel map. Scroll down a bit for that. http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/

Yeah, that Crazy Frog nonsense is the card you pull when any Brit complains about American culture. Having said that, Axel F is excellent.

This looks very promising. http://www.everyblock.com/ From the announcement: http://blog.everyblock.com/2008/jan/23/launch/ "What's happening in my neighborhood?" For a long time, that's been a tough question to answer. In dense, bustling cities like Chicago, New York and San Francisco, the number of daily media reports, government proceedings and local Internet conversations is staggering. Every day, a wealth of local information is created -- officials inspect restaurants, journalists cover fires and Web users post photographs -- but who has time to sort through all of that? Our mission at EveryBlock is to solve that problem. We aim to collect all of the news and civic goings-on that have happened recently in your city, and make it simple for you to keep track of news in particular areas. We're a geographic filter -- a "news feed" for your neighborhood, or, yes, even your block. Today we're launching in three American cities: Chicago, New York and San Francisco. On each site, you can type in any address to read local news and public information near you. _____________________________________ Poke around, it's very, very well done. We need Grasscat to get with these guys to start a Cincinnati version.

The city and county bond ratings are two different things. Moody's rates the City at Aa1, I think Standard and Poors is AA+. Those are good.

I'm trying to think of Predator lines that make sense, but none spring to mind. How about: I ain't got time to bleed. Stick around. Come ahn..... do eeet! Keel me nauow!

Here's a better gmap showing the area LK is talking about: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.164141,-84.397659&spn=0.070541,0.151062&z=13&om=0 It does look like a spur from the Oasis line goes north, then noertheasterly toward Golf Manor. But it crosses Madison east of Ridge, so not that close to Milacron, which is served by that east-west line I don't know the name of.

Standard view Google maps shows railroad as well: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.131858,-84.399719&spn=0.035287,0.075531&z=14&om=0 Looks like the Wasson line and the Oasis line get close at 50 and Red Bank, and then cross in Mariemont. That's the Red Bank stop on the Eastern Corridor map — the yellow line is Wasson.

I wish they renamed "Days of Thunder" "The Ballad of Ricky Bobby".

While the stadium looks good, I'd hate for the Reds to move to Arizona. I have no good reasons for this, except that I went to ST in Sarasota once, stayed on Siesta Key, and it was a blast.

Well, I don't recall the specifics, but I know that the State threatened to remove some of their funding if progress wasn't made. $10 mil I believe. The congestion mitigation grant might be as well, IIRC.

I understand the public financing situation. But I think that some of that money that is secured could find it's way out of the project if it's viability becomes questionable. Here's hoping push doesn't come to shove.

The previous developers seemed to have difficulties getting the money to work, and the national economic situation is only worse now. I asked earlier: if only one were possible, which would you have the city build, The Banks or the streetcar? That question might be creeping out of the realm of the hypothetical. I recognize the necessity of raising the area out of the flood plain for the type of development we've been hoping for, and that building a parking garage is an effective way of doing so and accommodating our dominant transport mode. But to build it without any attendant development strikes me immediately as a waste of money that could be put elsewhere — like in rail.

North is on the left, that might be throwing you off. The street with a median with trees in it is Jefferson. The street that terminates on the south end in a 5-way intersection is Short Vine, which now also connects with Vine. The eastern leg connects to Auburn Ave. Interesting to see that dashed line suggesting a desire to send Eden all the way to McMillan.

I agree Rando. Mick now has two top twenty five wins this season, which is better than either Huggins or Kennedy in their last years. For about 3 or 4 seasons before the Huggins thing finally went down, I felt he needed to go, not because he's an inveterate 'bag, though he is, but because of the team's performance. He got very little out of some talented squads late in his tenure, like the 03-04 and 04-05 teams with Max and White, unless you count beating the piss out of a sorry league. It all started far earlier, actually, probably when we lost to Miss St in Lexington. Nothing is weaker than these so-called fans who venerate Huggins, who is a slimeball nonpareil. I remember going to opening day and Huggins was there holding court on the silly boat party deck thing. Everyone was shouting, "we love you Bob" and so forth, so I shouted, "Go UC! Forget about Huggins, we'll be better without him" and whatnot. People looked at me like I had two heads. At any rate, I'm glad to see that the program might now fully turn the corner, and earlier than I expected.

At the risk of taking this conversation too far afield, it should be noted that the Freedom Center is not a Smithsonian Museum. It's part of the Smithsonian affiliate program, which means the Smithsonian shares artifacts and know-how, not money. All the Smithsonian museums are in the DC area, except Cooper-Hewitt and Heye Center in NYC. Also, the next Smithsonian Museum is the National Museum of African American History and Culture, so that may reduce any national profile the NURFC has accrued.

Man, I love the Enquirer. Their "What Color Should the Suspension Bridge Be?" poll must've gotten a ton of hits.

Does anyone know when the Union Central got it's sign? I found a promotional album cover that has to be 1950s or early 1960s with a sign on the top, but I haven't had much luck pinning down anything conclusive. http://bp3.blogger.com/_IBxGsYjUnfY/R0tz2izYFWI/AAAAAAAACSY/wrifgFAWgMw/s1600-h/The+Union+Central+Chimes-Christmas+Carols-Smaller.jpg I think 1959 is the earliest date I've seen with signage on the Union Central building. That is, if Jayson has the date right on this photo. http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/66994037

Joe Wessels has this in this weeks CityBeat. I know there's going to be at least some push back from Council on this.

^Right. Except that seats are being lost in the bowl for improved accessibility and wider seats. That's why I said net. As I understand it, UM was sued for non-compliance with the ADA, so the plans to increase capacity to 110,000+ have been trimmed. I know that most of the cost is in the façade, the press box, and suites. My point was in response to comments above complaining about the cost of renovation and not getting more seats.

Michigan Staduim is being renovated at a cost of $226 million. Net seating gain of about 500, I think. Just to show how expensive these things are without adding that much more in raw capacity.

This is outrageous.

Harper's has their entire archive online for subscribers. It's a great magazine. Here's the article if you care to subscribe: http://harpers.org/archive/1981/02/0024497

I appreciate the effort Rando, but you might note that Bronson is not in the business of reporting—he's a columnist, and not a very good one. Not to get all inappropriately transitive, but when the NY Times is hiring Bill Kristol, one might expect a paper like the Enquirer to have a columnist that is even more clueless.

I saw a trailer for First Sunday, an Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan comedy I won't be seeing. The Hamilton County Courthouse is the court they go to.